A Tale of Three Fillies
by Lilac Iris
Summary: After yet another batch of failed attempts to find their special talents, the Cutie Mark Crusaders decide it is time for drastic measures. My first venture into fanfic, so enjoy and review! K   just in case
1. Chapter 1

A Tale of Three Fillies

Chapter 1: Realization

"Slow down Scootaloo! I don't want to get my cutie mark for being roadkill!" a red maned yellow pony called from the wagon behind a speeding scooter being driven by a orange pony with a purple mane. "Don't worry Applebloom" Scootaloo called back "I got this all undAAAAAHHHHHH!" she called back as she narrowly avoided a cart being pulled by a brown stallion. "See, told ya" an unfazed Scootaloo call back to her visibly shaking passenger. "Just g-g-get us to C-c-carousel Boutique in one piece...please".

Only a few minutes later the two filly's skidded to a stop in front of The Carousel Boutique and walked in. As the door open a small bell was rung and they were greeted by a white mare with a purple mane.

"Welcome to the Carousel Boutique! Oh, good morning darlings, Sweetie Belle will be ready in just a moment"

"Ok Rarity! So what are you working on right now?"She asked as she saw a dress dummy cover in what looked like armor plating painted dark blue.

"Oh that, I'm trying to design a new outfit for Luna's personal guard, the black and bats are sooooooo last millennium"

"And scary too!" a white unicorn filly called out as she came down the stairs "Sorry for making you wait, I was just brushing my mane" Sweetie Belle looked a lot like her older sister, but her mane had streak a pink running through it instead of being straight purple.

"Come on Sweetie Belle, we got another day of extreme crusading ahead of us!" Scootaloo said as she ran out the door and started up her scooter. The other two fillies followed right on her tail while yelling "Cutie Mark Crusaders Away!"

After speeding away from Carousel boutique and almost hitting only 2 ponies and a bunny, the Cutie Mark Crusader made there way onto Sweet Apple Acres, which was home to Apple Bloom, and in a corner of the farm stood the Cutie Mark Crusader's clubhouse. As Scootaloo came to a sliding stop all three rushed inside and Sweetie Belle grabbed a large scroll from the corner of the room and walked over to a a picture hanging on the wall with numbered tags stuck to it. It was a hand drawn map of

Ponyville that they had made when trying to get their cutie marks in cartography.

"I now call this meeting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to order" Sweetie Belle said. "Let's start with marking any new crusades." Apple Bloom was the first to chime in "We tried to build that tower out of books in the library " Sweetie belle quickly wrote "tower builders" on the scroll she had taken out using a quill and her unicorn magic. She then wrote "266" next to it on the scroll and then wrote it on a tag and placed it on the library on their map, joining markers "27, 85, and 143"

"We also tried to get our cutie marks for being Pharmacy assistants" Scootaloo chimed in "I thought we had our cutie marks for sure that time"

"Granny Smith spent the next three days in bed talking about the gryphons who were in the corner knitting her sweaters with six legs!" Apple bloom cried out

"Okay, so maybe we weren't that close"

"I'll say"

As the two continued to argue, Sweetie Belle wrote "267- pharmacy assistants" on here scroll and squeezed a tag onto the map near the Clinic. As she stepped back to look at the map something caught her attention about it.

"Apple Bloom, Scootaloo! Take a look at this map, there isn't any space left to place new markers!" As the two friends stopped their bickering and looked at the map, they saw that as the purple and pink maned filly had said, the entire map was cover in markers, even the part of the Everfree forest they had added on. Sweetie Belle, obviously discouraged, looked at her friends.

"Is there anything left for us to try, I'm starting to thing we will never get our cutie marks" she said on the verge of tears.

"Come on Sweetie Belle, there is plenty of things for us to do still!" Scootaloo said in an attempt to cheer up her friend.

"Like what! We've done every possible thing there is to do in Ponyville!"

"No we haven't! We can still... and we haven't..." Scootaloo trailed off

"See! Even you can't think of anything! Face it, we are going to be blank flanks forever!" Sweetie Belle no longer held back the tears as they slowly slid down her muzzle. Apple Bloom had been looking at the map while her friends talked, and finally came up with an idea.

"If we have tried everything in Ponyville, why don't we leave?" Both her fellow crusaders stared wide eyed at her as she continued on.

"Why not? My sister went to Manehatten when she was a filly, and she might not have gotten her cutie mark if she hadn't. Why can't we leave Ponyville and search for our cutie marks somewhere else in Equestria?" Both her friends stood there thinking about what she had just said. Sweetie Belle was the first to speak.

"Are you sure that is a good idea?"

"Of course it is!" Scootaloo said with excitement, "I don't know why I didn't think of that! Apple Bloom, you are a genius!" This got Apple Bloom grinning from ear to ear.

"So should we do it? Should the Cutie Mark Crusaders leave Ponyville? All in favor?"

"Awww yeah!" Scootaloo cried out, pumping her hoof in the air

"You know, it does make a lot of sense... I'm in" Sweet belle said as she too raised her hoof in the air

Apple Bloom looked at her two best friends in the world and she too raised a hoof "Then it's settled, we're going to leave Ponyville. Now all we need is a plan."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks ****to ****all ****who ****read ****and ****reviewed ****the ****first ****chapter, ****I ****have ****tried ****to ****take ****your ****suggestions ****to ****heart, ****so ****hopefully ****things ****have ****improved. ****I ****don't ****know ****yet ****how ****long ****this ****story ****will ****be ****overall, ****but ****I ****do ****have ****ideas ****that ****could ****keep ****it ****going ****for ****a ****while ****if ****I ****am ****getting ****a ****good ****response. ****I ****hope ****you ****all ****enjoy ****and ****please ****leave ****a ****review, ****they ****make ****me ****happy!**

Chapter 2: Organization

Apple Bloom looked at her two best friends in the world and she too raised a hoof "Then it's settled, we're going to leave Ponyville. Now all we need is a plan."

"A plan! What's to plan! Let's go and find our cutie marks!" Scootaloo shouted as she ran for the door

"Now hold up there Scoot, we need a plan, like what are we going to bring, where are we going, and more importantly, how are we leaving Ponyville without someone coming after us?"

Scootaloo stopped in her tracks and thought about that for a second "Good point," she said as she turned around , came back and sat on her haunches next to her friends.

"Sweetie Belle, you have the nicest handwriting, you can write out the list."

The white filly levitated out a blank scroll, set it on the table in front of her, picked up a freshly inked quill, and proclaimed herself ready.

Apple started, "Okay, the first thing we will need to to figure out where we all are headed, we need to see what the world looks like outside of Ponyville."

"Twilight has maps at the library remember," Sweetie Belle exclaimed "She showed us when we tried to give her our map of Ponyville!"

"Perfect! Come on Cutie mark Crusaders! To the Library!"

Before they had even written a single word the three companions rushed outside and loaded up the scooter and sped away towards the Ponyville library.

* * *

><p>It only took a few minutes to get there at the speeds Scootaloo traveled, and as soon as they stopped they all rushed to the door and into the library, barely stopping to in time to avoid crashing into a cyan pony and her cream colored companion. "Sorry Lyra, sorry Bon Bon!" The three friends said, though not in anything that would resemble unison.<p>

"It's quite all right girls, we were just leaving anyways. We will return the book tomorrow Twilight."

"Take as much time as you need you two, I hope you enjoy." A purple coated unicorn with a lavender and pink mane said as she waved good bye to the two mares."Now what can I do for you three little crusaders today?"

"We were wondering in we could see that book of maps you showed us before, the "At Last"?" Sweetie Belle said.

"You mean the Atlas?" Twilight corrected

"Yeah! We need it so we can..." she got cut off as Scootaloo stuck he hoof over Sweetie's mouth, taking up the conversation.

"So we can... study them!""yeah we are gonna be Cutie Mark "know where things are" Crusaders..." She trailed off, hoping Twilight hadn't seen straight through her. After all, she thought she had just made it completely up.

"You mean geographers?"

"You mean it exists! I mean Yeah! Cutie Mark Geographers!" Twilight gave Scootaloo and the other crusaders a curious look, she couldn't decide if the they really wanted to try being geographers, or if they were up to something. She chuckled to herself as she realized that these three fillies were always up to something.

"Well you're in luck, the Atlas is currently here in the library, let me get it for you." Twilight's horn began to glow, and in an instant the glow had spread to a book on a high shelf that began to levitate towards them, coming to rest on a short table in front of the Crusaders. "I'll leave you three to read, Spike and I have to go runs some errands. Come on Spike!"

"Coming!" A purple and green baby dragon called as he ran down the stairs carrying a basket and a scroll. As he reached the bottom he jumped and landed on Twilight's back.

"What's the first thing on our list my number one assistant?" Spike took a quick look at the list.

"Meet Fluttershy for lunch to discuss sudden boom in bunny population."

The Unicorn sighed "I wondered if this would happen after the last census was messed up by Applejack. Well I may be a while, so long girls, just remember that this is a library and my home, so please treat everything with respect."

"Sure thing Twilight Sparkle, see you later!" Apple Bloom called as Twilight and Spike walked out of the library.

"Whew, that was close, you think she's onto us?"

"Nah! We totally pulled it off, now let's get to those maps! The sooner we pick a place, the sooner we can get going!" Scootaloo replied as she opened up the atlas. "So anypony have a suggestion?"

"We should go someplace closer, so we don't have to walk as far to get there." Sweetie Belle said

"And it should be a bigger city, the bigger the city, the more things we can probably find to do." Apple Bloom added

"Alright, the nearest big city is...Canterlot!" Scootaloo called as she traced her hoof along the map in front of her.

"Wow! Canterlot! The capital of Equestria! We are bound to be able to find our special talents there!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. The three friends all looked at each other, seeing if anypony had an objection to going to Canterlot. All three remained silent.

Apple Bloom was the first to break the silence as she turned back to the map "Alright, if we are going to go to Canterlot, we are gonna need supplies! It looks like it will be at least a three day walk, There should be plenty of grass and stuff along the way to eat, but we should bring some food just in case. Same with water, there are multiple streams and rivers along the road, but we should still bring some. We're also going to need camping supplies, since we will be sleeping on the trail. Finally we all are gonna need money, something tells me that things in Canterlot won't be free." "I can get the food and water from Sweet Apple Acres, and we have sleeping bags at the clubhouse, how can we get the other things?"

"I can get some fabric from my sister Rarity and make a tent!" Sweetie Belle suggested, "and I could get some gems we could trade, I have some of my own and Rarity always has a lot that she says are too low of quality for her designs, we can probably get some money for them too!"

"We're gonna need to carry all of this with us, and it's gonna be heavy, I can work on my scooter and get a bigger wagon so we can carry all of what we need." Scootaloo chimed in, getting more excited every minute.

"Alright you guys, we all know what we need to do, I know we want to leave as soon as possible, so everyone take the rest of today to start gathering supplies, we will meet tomorrow afternoon at the clubhouse to see what we have so far" Apple Bloom said to the other fillies. "Everyone knows what they need to do, good luck and I will see you at the clubhouse" She stuck her hoof into the middle of the triangle they had formed, and it was quickly joined by an orange hoof followed shortly by a white one.

"1...2...3...CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS GO!" They said together, and sooner than anypony would have thought possible they were all out of the library and on their way.

* * *

><p><strong>Don't forget, please review :)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you to all that have gotten this far in my first fanfiction, I guess that means that I am doing alright at least to keep you coming back. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please leave a review. Happy Reading!

Chapter 3: Nutrition

Apple Bloom ran back towards Sweet Apple Acres so she could start gathering supplies for their journey. As she came onto the property she slowed and began thinking to herself. "Now what should I bring, and how am I gonna get those things without Applejack or Big Macintosh seeing me?" She walked slowly up to the house, looking for any sign that her two siblings were around. When she was only about 5 pony lengths from the door it opened. Apple Bloom held her breath, readying what she would say about what she had done today, then let out a sigh of relief as Granny Smith, the light green matriarch of the apple family, walked out, holding a broom in her teeth.

"Afternoon Granny!" Apple Bloom called, "Are Applejack or Big Macintosh around?"

"Applejack and Big Macintosh? They should be in the southern field clearing the weeds from the potatoes"

"Alright, thanks Granny Smith!" Apple Bloom said as she walked into the house, and straight out the back door and opened the door to one of the Apple family's root cellars. As she started down the stairs she grabbed a lantern from a hook on the wall and quickly lit it. The lantern cast a warm yellow glow, as she started down the stairs. It wasn't long until she had reached the bottom, and she placed the lantern on a table in the middle of the room. She took a look around and gave a low whistle. "Well golly!" She whispered. While this wasn't her first trip into an Apple Family cellar, but she was always amazed by how much there was. The shelves were packed from floor to ceiling with food, and she knew that there were several other cellars just like this on their property.

"Alright, now what should I bring for our journey?" she said to herself as see walked around the perimeter of the cellar, looking at all the different items that were there. "Well we gotta have apples!" She exclaimed as she grabbed a half full sack of dried apples from a low shelf and placed it at the base of the stairs.

"We need to keep up our strength while we're traveling, and nothing makes me feel stronger then a good bowl of oats!" She proceeded to take a small sack of oats from the shelf, and with a little effort she brought it to sit next to the apples.

"Okay, we got fruit and grain, so we are gonna need some veggies, Big Mac always says how I should eat my veggies!" she walked along the shelves, looking at all the selection she had, finally deciding on a bag of carrots. As she walked back with the carrots in her mouth something caught her eye, several leather skins each filled with a half gallon of the Apple Family's patented Apple cider, each skin was marked with a bright red apple in front of a barn, the symbol of Sweet Apple Acres. "I know I said we should bring some water, but this tastes much better!" She grabbed three of the cider skins and slung them on her back, so there would be one for each crusader.

"Alright, that should be enough, now I will just put it in the clubhouse until we meet tomorrow." She went over and took the ends of both the oats and apples in her mouth, joining the carrots. As she began to try and haul her take up the stairs, she realized that while she had been able to carry each item separately with relative ease, it would be much harder all at once. Never the less, and because she could be just as stubborn as her sister, she began pulling her haul up one stair at a time.

"Come on Applebloom!" She thought to herself, "You are no pushover city pony! Now pull!" She was able to keep a good pace, getting up a stair every 10 seconds or so, but with 30 stairs to climb, it still took the yellow filly around 5 minutes until she finally cleared the entrance to the cellar. She was breathing rather hard by this point, but still found plenty of energy to nearly jump out of her skin when she heard a voice from behind her say "Now what in tarnation are you up to Apple Bloom? And why you taking food from our cellar?" It was an orange pony with a light orange mane wearing a stenston cowboy hat, it was Apple Bloom's sister Applejack. The little filly was caught totally off guard, but wasn't about to give up on her mission.

"I was...I was... I was getting this food for the clubhouse, we are going to... try to be cutie mark competitive eaters!" she said with a weak smile, knowing for sure that it all was over.

Applejack thought about it for a minute, she didn't really believe that the crusader's wanted to try and be competitive eaters, but then again, she knew they would try almost anything. She remember when she had gone as far as leaving the farm and family that she loved to try and find her cutie mark in Manehatten. So she decided to play along with her little sister, though she made a mental note to talk with Twilight Sparkle and the other Elements of Harmony later.

"Competitive eating huh? Now that would be an interesting special talent to have. I've seen how you can eat after a long days work, so maybe it'll work, you need anything else for your crusades?"

Apple Bloom could barely believe that her sister was going to help her, she thought she was going to be grounded for sure. She thought about what other item she had been thinking of grabbing for their travels.

"Well, we could use some rope. You know, so we can drag anypony outside who eats too much to move!"

"Alright, I will go grab you some rope while you drag those sacks to your clubhouse, I'll meet you there if your fast enough!" After she had finished speaking Applejack headed away from Apple Bloom, her plan was to grab the rope, deliver it to the clubhouse, and them run into town so she could arrange a meeting with her friends to decide on a course of action.

Apple Bloom watched as her sister galloped away from her. "Phew, that was close!" she exclaimed, "Now to get this stuff to the clubhouse!" She resumed dragging her supplies back to the clubhouse. By the time the sun had begun to set she had arrived at the clubhouse on the edge of the Apple Family's property. she saw the rope sitting in the corner waiting for here. Too tired to go back to the house, she crawled into her sleeping bag and was asleep faster then you can say "sweet dreams". She feel asleep completely unaware of the plan Her big sister had set in motion.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Protection

Sweetie Belle galloped at fast as she could back towards The Carousel Boutique,and stopped just outside the door so she could catch her breath and fix her mane, because she knew if she walked into the boutique looking tired and with a messed up mane her sister Rarity was sure to give her one of her relaxation spa treatments and hair stylings. She didn't have time for that "and besides," she thought "that deep tissue massage really hurts!"

Once she felt she was presentable, she casually walked though the door, and found her sister still feverishly at work on the Luna Guardspony dress uniforms. Rarity didn't react as the door opened as far as Sweetie Belle could tell, so rather then bother her she walked as quietly as possible up to her room, being careful not to disturb her sister while she was so focus. It took her only a minute to get up to her room and closed the door. She turned around and looked at her room, it was rather well organized for a filly's room, Rarity always made sure of that. The only exception was the walls, which were wallpapered in various art projects, clothing designs, and other things that she thought were neat or she had collected over her short life, such as photos of her and rarity and things she had found while crusading with her friends.

"Now to get those gems!" She said as she scurried across the room towards a chest on the far side of the room near her desk. She opened it up to reveal the gems that Rarity had given her so she could use them on her projects, she knew they were not the best gems, and they all had minor impurities like being misshapen or cloudy or imperfections in the structure. They were gems that Rarity didn't think were good enough for her designs, but Sweetie Belle knew they were still worth something. There were about 4 dozen of them of varying types, shapes and sizes,and the white unicorn filly quickly loaded them into her saddlebags. As she walked back towards her door something caught her eye, it was a ceramic cupcake with a slot on the top. It was her bank, and inside was the money Sweetie Belle had made selling her art projects to friends and relatives. "I know I was saving that money for a party when I get my cutie mark...but I don't bring that money, I might never even find my cutie mark!" With that she had made up he mind, and the walked over to the cupcake took it off the shelf, placed it one the ground, and smashed it with her front hooves. She sorted through the pieces, separating the coins from the ceramic dessert fragments.

"13,14,15!" she counted "15 bits won't get us too far, but it will be a help for sure!" She tossed the coins into a small pouch and then prompt put the pouch into her saddlebag. "Now I need to get cloth for a tent, I hope Rarity isn't too busy." she said as she exited her room and went down the stair, jiggling slightly with every step.

As she made it to the base of the stairs she found various fabrics tossed around, centering on a still half complete gaurdpony's uniform. While the room was a mess, Rarity was the opposite, looking as clean and neat as ever and sipping a cup of tea while sitting on an oversized cushion.

"Oh good afternoon Sweetie Belle, I didn't hear you come in darling, I was rather focus on my current masterpiece" She said as she motioned towards the half dressed mannequin.

"Yeah, you looked pretty busy and I didn't want to disturb you"

"It's quite all right my little sister. What are you doing home this early anyways? Don't you and your friends have any crusading to do today?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah, I was just coming home to pick up some things." "I was also wondering if you had any waterproof fabric that I could have?" Sweetie Belle asked while giving her sister the cutest look she could muster.

"Waterproof fabric? Now what on earth to you need that for darling!"

"We need it for..." She was drawing a complete blank, she had to say something "...secret crusader stuff?"

"Hmmmmmmmmmm," Rarity gave the little filly a sidelong look, she didn't know what she was up to, but she thought about it and decided that there was no way the crusaders could get into too much trouble with some simple fabric.

"I do have some oilcloth left over from last season, just give me a moment Sweetie Belle," she walk out of sight into her storage room, and came back carrying a bolt of dark green cloth. "There are around 5 yards here, I no longer have a need for it so you can have it all."

Sweetie Belle couldn't believe her eyes, she tried her hardest to contain her excitement, and she wanted to get out of here before her sister asked anymore questions.

"Thanks Sis!" she yelled as she quickly grabbed the fabric, attached it to her saddlebags, and sprinted out the door as fast as she could towards the clubhouse.

Rarity was left starting at the door where her sister had just gone. "Now why on earth was she in such a hurry? And did I hear a jiggling sound?" She shrugged her shoulders "Oh well, back to work!" she turned back towards her new design, but before she could get focused, there was a knock at the door.

"Now I wonder who that could be?" she walked over and opened the door, reveling an orange pony with a Stenson hat.

"Good afternoon Applejack, how can I help you?"


	5. Chapter 5

Welcome to the next chapter of "A Tale of 3 Fillies" this one is the longer so far and it is also my first attempt at creating an OC. Please review and tell me what you think of him and the rest of my writing. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 5:Transportation

Scootaloo ran out of the library and jumped onto her scooter, quickly zooming away in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage, but before she got there she veered off the path and started into the Everfree Forest. As she entered the forest she slowed down substantially, there were just too many roots, branches, and other debris that could cause her to crash. She began to look at her surroundings, and finally saw what she was looking for, a tree with a white symbol carved on it, "Σ". Scootaloo knew it was used in math somehow because she had seen it when she looked in one of Twilight's books, but other then that all it meant to her was that she was on the right track. She moved straight past the tree and deeper into the forest, every so often passing another tree with " Σ" carved on it. After almost 90 minutes she finally came upon a small cottage in the middle of a small clearing, she had reached her destination.

Everypony in Ponyville knew Zecora, the zebra who lived here in the forest, but she was not the only one living in the Everfree Forest. Scootaloo dismounted from her scooter and walked it up to the door. She listened for a moment to hear if anyone was inside, and she heard hoofsteps crossing from one side of the room to another, as if somepony was pacing. She took a moment to compose herself, and knocked on the door. She heard the hoofbeats stop for a second, and then they started towards the door. It opened to reveal a light gray unicorn with an all white mane and dark goggles hanging around his neck. His cutie mark was a single star wearing a mortar board.

"Hello Scootaloo, how are you doing on this fine…..Tuesday? Or is Friday? Either way, come in! Glad to see you again!" He said as he gestured for Scootaloo to walk inside.

"Thanks professor!" Scootaloo said as she went inside "So what cool projects are you working on right now?"

"Oh, just the usual, curing all disease and ending world hunger" The unicorn replied with a sarcastic laugh "Although now that I am all alone and able to focus, maybe I could..."

Scootaloo gave him an uneasy laugh, she should never tell if the Professor was joking or not. "So professor, I was wondering if you knew anyway to fix up my scooter?"

"Why? Is it broken?"

"No, but I need it for something special, I need it to be lighter, stronger, and faster. I don't have any money..." She was cut of by the older pony. "Now I could never ask for money from you. After all, we're friends, have been ever since you stumbled upon my humble hovel here while riding that scooter of yours." He looked off into the distance, remembering that day.

It had been several months before, since he had moved right after Winter Wrap Up and he had not yet celebrated the first Running of the Leaves in his new home. His real name was Shining Star, but everypony had called him the professor for years. For his whole life he had lived in Canterlot and every since he had gotten his first spellbook that he didn't just want to perform magic spells like most unicorns, he wanted to create spells so that he and others could do new things and perform old tasks using less magic, so less gifted unicorns could do them. He had excelled from an early age, quickly surpassed unicorns twice his age in magical proficiency. This was thanks mainly to modifying the existing spells to make them easier. Graduation from Magic Academy came early for him, and he wanted to spend his life following his passion of creating spells, the only trouble was that nopony would leave him alone. Instead they would come over at all hours of the day to ask him to create a spell for them. "Can you make me cuter?" onepony would ask "I want a spell so I can change the color of my coat?" another would say. Quickly it had become to much for Shining Star to take, and so he packed all he could carry and teleported to the edge of the Everfree forest. He had walked until he had found his clearing, and quickly set to work building his home with magic.

It only took him a few days to settle in and he already appreciated the seclusion and had been able to design his first new spell, one that would allow anypony to talk to squirrels. He was in the process of expanding the spell to include chipmunks when he was interrupted by a knock on his door. As far as Shining Star had known, nopony knew where he was, so cautiously he had opened the door to see a small orange pegasus filly with a scooter.

"Hello mister, I'm sorry to bother you but I'm lost and I need to find my way back to Ponyville before they start looking for me!" she said with a twinge of anger at herself for having to ask for help.

Shining Star now had to decide what to do, he couldn't just leave her here, but if he brought her back she might tells others where he was and come looking for him themselves, and he didn't want to deal with ponies asking for favors again. Finally he decided what to do.

"Alright, I'll help you get back to Ponyville, but you have to promise that you will not tell anyone where I am."

Scootaloo was overjoyed to here that he would help that she didn't bother to question why he didn't want to be found.

"I promise sir! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" she said as she moved her hoof directly in front of her eye. Shining Star didn't understand why she had promised the way she had, but he could tell the filly was sincere, so he walked out his door and motioned for Scootaloo to follow him. "Ponyville is back this way, and don't call me sir. Call me...Professor." Scootaloo fell into rank behind him and they started to walk home, as they went the Professor was marking trees with the "Σ" to make sure he could find his way back, choosing the symbol because most ponies didn't know what it meant anyways, and therefore it made him feel more mysterious like a secret agent or something. As they walked Scootaloo began to ask questions and talk, and by the time they made it back to Fluttershy's cottage the sun was beginning to set. The orange Pegasus and the gray unicorn had become fast friends, Scootaloo telling all able her life and the Professor sharing his story too.

"Well, this is your stop, it was great talking with you." He began "I know I told you not to tell anyone where I live, but you are welcome to visit anytime you want, just follow the marked trees"

"Really! thanks professor! I'll catch you later!" Scootaloo sped off towards the rest of Ponyville.

* * *

>She had visited him several times since then, but this was the first time she had come asking for anything...<p><p>

Professor Shining Star spanned back into reality to find himself back in his house with the orange filly.

"Now about your scooter, could you go grab it from outside, I'd like to see what can be done."

Scootaloo did what the unicorn said and went and got her scooter, placing it in the middle of the floor. The professor walked over to the scooter, and began to examine it, looking at every piece, spinning the wheels, and turning the handlebars. "Well,"he began after several minute of study, I don't know if there is anything we can do with this model to improve it the way you want to." Scootaloo looked down dismayed "However," he started up again "I think I might be able to make you a new one that will be closer to what you are looking for!" Scootaloo jumped for joy "REALLY! YOU MEAN IT! YOU'RE THE BEST PROFESSOR!" she ran up to him and gave him a huge hug, wrapping around his front right leg.

"Now hold your celebrations until after I have finished," he told Scootaloo, and I'm going to need some room. Scoot quickly back off and sat on a nearby couch with eager eyes.

The unicorn thought about how he was going to do this for a minute, and decided that instead of conjuring the whole scooter, he would create the parts and then from there assemble them. He put on him goggles and his horn began to glow, one by one the pieces of a scooter began to materialize in front of the filly's eyes. She noted though that instead of being made of wood, they were made out of some kind of metal. She watched as each piece appeared, the last being the wheels, which were made of hard rubber. Then as soon as the last piece came into being, they began floating through the cloud of magic and putting themselves together. The cloud finally dissipated and the new scooter floated to the ground. Shining Star took a few moments to catch his breath, then he took of his goggles and said, "So Scootaloo, what do you think?"

She walk cautiously over to it and gave it a tentative push, with even that minimal amount of effort she was able to make it roll almost two feet. She then got on the scooter and tried to slowly move across the room, she sped up much quicker then she thought, and she turned sharper and easier then she ever had before to avoid hitting the wall. She realized that with this new scooter she would be able to go twice as fast while putting in half the effort.

"This is amazing Professor! It's better then I imagined, I'm gonna go show my friends right now!"

You're welcome Scootaloo, and please, call me Shining Star." He said with a smile

"Cool name!" the filly called as she mounted up, "See you Shining Star!" and with that she was on her way back to Ponyville.

Shining Star waited until he could no longer see the filly to turn around and walk to a map of Equestria he had hanging on the wall, he applied a little magic to it and an orange dot appeared on the map, moving away from his clearing and in the direction of Ponyville.

"It's not that I don't trust you Scootaloo" he said to knowpony in particular, "but I have to see what it is you are up to that you needed a scooter like that."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Observations

Fluttershy walked though the door of the Ponyville Library, and found that the other members of the Elements of Harmony were already there gathered in a rough circle, including Spike, who was handing out refreshments to the others, paying special attention that Rarity had all that she needed.

"Oh, sorry for making you wait..." The yellow pegasus whispered, "I hope I didn't miss anything."

"No trouble at all darling!" Rarity said as she reclined on a large sofa, "Twilight was just about to get us started." She nodded towards Twilight as if to cue her to begin speaking, and so she did.

"Alright, we all know the Cutie Mark Crusaders are always getting into some trouble as they try to find there cutie marks, but it has come to the attention of several of us that their most recent behavior seems even odder then normal. For instance, I had them come to me for a map of Equestria, they said they wanted to be geographers, but they seemed a little edgy as they asked, like they had other reasons to look at the map. I had to go run some errands with Spike or else I would have questioned them further."

Applejack was the next to speak "Yeah, themfillies been acting awful strange, why earlier t'day I found Apple Bloom taking a bunch of food out ah one of ours cellar's, said they wanted to try and be competitive eaters, and when I asked if she need anything else, she said she needed rope fur hauling somepony away if they ate too much. I know they'll try anything, but it just don't add up, that's why I came around telling y'all we needed to meet. Rarity seen em acting strange too! Tell 'em!"

Rarity gave a sigh at the why she had just been addressed, she could never quite get used to Applejack's less polished speech. "Thank you Applejack, now as you mentioned I did observe some less then normal behavior from my sister, Sweetie Belle. I had been focus intently on my lastest designed and hadn't heard her come home, but while I was taking a much needed break she came down from her room with her saddlebags on and asked me for waterproof fabric. I gave her some old oilcloth that I simply had no use for, and she sprinted out the door with it. As she did I thought I had heard a jingling sounds from her saddlebags, which I noted as odd, and after Applejack's came to my door I decided to investigate further, so I went up to Sweetie /belle's room only to find her cupcake bank smashed..."

"Why did she smash a cupcake? Did it taste bad? If it did isn't wasn't one of mine, my cupcakes are always delicious!" A pink pony said as she started paying attention at the mention of cupcakes.

"Pinkie Pie! Don't interrupt!" Twilight said "Besides, she said it was a cupcake BANK, you know, something you put money in?"

"Okey-Dokey!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully as she went back to focusing on whatever it was Pinkie Pie focused on.

"You may continue Rarity."

"Thank you Twilight, now as I was saying I went up to her room to find her cupcake back smashed and her chest of gems empty! I gave her those gems for her arts and craft projects, but I didn't see any new ones, so I know she took them with her, but I haven't the faintest idea why."

The next pony to speak was Fluttershy "Now that you mention it, I did see something strange as I was leaving my cottage, I had just walked out the door when I heard a strange buzzing sound, I was afraid somepony had done something to make the bees angry, but then I saw the real source of the noise. It was Scootaloo riding a shiny silver scooter instead of her regular one, and she was moving faster then I have ever seen her move before. I hope that helps... I hope."

"Sure it does Fluttershy! The rainbow maned pegasus Rainbow Dash called out, "I gotta see it! Sounds like Scootaloo just got cooler!" She started flying towards the door, but was stopped as Twilight grabber her by the tail using magic. "Hold on Rainbow Dash, we can't let them know we have noticed anything until we know what it is they are doing." She turned to address all her friends.

"Okay, now that we all know all the facts we have, I think we can begin to decide what it is those three fillies are up to, and even more importantly ,what will be our course of action in response." she paused for a moment to let the other, and herself think about possible options. The purple unicorn was the first to speak again. "If I didn't know better I would say that those fillies are planning on traveling, they used the map to pick a destination, they have food for the journey, but what abut the other items?"

"The oilcloth could be used to make a tent or some cloths to help a pony keep dry!" Applejack exclaimed.

"And while those gems weren't of the finest quality, they could still be sold or traded for a good sum of money if you needed it." Rarity added " MY GOODNESS! They really are planning on leaving Ponyville!"

"They're leaving! Then we gotta throw them a going away party!" It was her turn to make a bolt for the door, and just like with Rainbow Dash ,Twilight was able to react in time to keep her from getting out of the library.

"No party Pinkie! We can't let them know that we're onto them, besides, we don't even know for sure if that is what's happening, we need more information." "Rainbow Dash, I want you to go and observe the Cutie Mark Crusasder's clubhouse, if they are doing anything, they will start there, stay behind clouds so they won't see you."

"Roger that" The cyan pegasus said with a salute

"Very good, now Spike,"She turned to address the baby dragon, who had been sitting and listening after finishing with the refreshments, "I would like for you to go with Rainbow to observe, I will send you with scrolls that you will be able to send back to me with your findings, and I will be able to send messages back to you."

"Okay Twilight!" He ran over and jumped unto Rainbow Dash's back, being careful not to block her wings.

"Alright you two, find out what it is that the fillies are doing, and remember," she turn her head to address everypony there. "Under no circumstances is anypony to interfere with their plan."

They each gave a sign that they understood "Alright, you two be careful and remember to send back your findings."

With that Rainbow Dash was out the door and flying in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, with the baby dragon on her back holding on for dear life.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Preparations

Hi everypony! Sorry for the long time since my list update, school kind of got in the way. I will hopefully be able to get back on schedule. As always I hope you enjoy and remember to leave a review.

Apple Bloom woke up as she heard a knock at the door, she waited for somepony else like Big Mac to get it, but as she cracked open her eyes, she realized that she was still in the Cutie Mark Crusader's Clubhouse. She hopped out of her sleeping bed to open door to find Sweetie Belle standing in front of her.

"Oh, good morning Sweetie Belle." The yellow filly said as she rubbed sleep from her eyes "What are you doing here so early? I thought we weren't meeting until this afternoon?"

"I know, but I was just to excited! So what are YOU doing here so early?"

"ah fell asleep after I brought the supplies, them apples an stuff get heavy after a while." Apple Bloom said as she motioned to the sacks she had laid down in a corner the night before." she took a look at her friend and realized that she didn't have her saddle bags on. "Say, did you get the gems and stuff?

"Of course I did!" Sweetie Belle walked over to behind the desk and lifted her saddle bags with her mouth and set them on the table, along with the dark green oilcloth. She open up the bags showed Apple Bloom the glittering contents.

"I got every one that I own, along with some coins from my cupcake bank."

"That's amazin', I bet'cha we can buy half ah Canterlot with all these gems! Great job Sweetie Belle!"

Before she could respond back, they both turned as they heard a high pitched buzzing, it sounded like Scootaloo, but it was approaching way to fast to be her. They looked out the window just in time to see an orange blur skid to a stop in from of the clubhouse. It was then that they noticed that instead of her regular scooter, she was riding a shiny metal one they had never seen before. As Scootaloo took off her helmet, the other two crusaders rush outside to meet her.

"Wow Scoot! Where'd ya get that new scooter? I ain't ever seen you travel that fast before!"

"Yeah, and it's so shiny! I love it!"

"Thanks guys!" The orange pegasus said as she patted her new transportation. "Yeah, I can go twice as fast on this scooter then I could on my old one."

"So where did you such an amazing scooter, did you buy it?"

"Well... it was a gift...from a friend..." Scootaloo struggled with the answer, as she didn't want to lie to her friends, but she had promised Shining Star that she would keep his location a secret. She dicided to take what she thought would be the easiest road. "...Hey! You guys wanna see something cool!" She hopped back on her scooter and took off back down the way she came. Then she turn the scooter and started coming back towards a small ramp that she had built. With her old scooter she had only been able to perform small jumps, but with as she approached it now,she was hitting much higher speeds, and as she cleared that ramp, she pulled back on the handle bars and was able to do a complete flip before landing safely on the ground.

Both her friends went crazy, cheering and complementing their friends, and at least for now not caring at all about the source of this new scooter, they only wanted to she Scootaloo do that trick again. She preformed her latest stunt for her friends twice more, and each time she received the same cheers and applause.

"Alright, now back to business, were you guys able to get what you needed?"

"Ah got th' food! An' I got some rope here too!"

"I got all my gems and bits, and I got this waterproof fabric to make a tent out of!"

"Awesome! Let's load up the wagon!" Scootaloo said as she pulled her wagon out from behind the clubhouse. Apple Bloom went inside and dragged out the sacks of apples, carrots, and oats. Sweetie Belle also went in and grabbed her saddle bags with the gems and bits inside.

"Alright, ah think that it will be best if we use the wagon to carry supplies and Sweetie Belle and ah can walk." The yellow filly told her friends.

"Walk?" Sweetie Belle said to herself with an air of apprehension, she knew it was a long way to Canterlot, but she didn't want to disappoint her friends, besides, she really wanted that cutie mark.

Apple Bloom threw the sacks into the wagon, and then grabbed the fabric and unrolled it, eying it see how much they should cut for the tent, when she decided on a proper size, she turned to Sweetie Belle "Hey Sweetie Belle, can ya cut the fabric for me right here, we don't need all of it for the tent, and can you grab the sleeping bags out of the clubhouse Scootaloo?"

Both her friends began to preform the tasks they had been given, and at about the same time as the unicorn finished cutting the pegasus was loading the sleeping bags into the wagon. "Hey Apple Bloom, could we use some of that fabric to cover the wagon, we don't want everything to get all wet, and maybe some ponchos for us?"

"That's a great idea Scoot! Could ya do that Swettie Belle?"

Sweetie Belle thought about it for a moment "It shouldn't be too hard, I'll just need a little time." Her horn began to glow again as the oilcloth and a pair of scissors began to float towards each other.

* * *

><p><p>

"So what are they doing now?" Spike said to Rainbow Dash as they sat on a cloud above the Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse. They had arrived this morning just before Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had gotten there, and they had gotten right to work observing and writing what they saw.

"Looks like they might be packing everything up, looks like Twilight was right about them planning to leave. I wish we could talk to them, I gotta see that scooter up close!" Rainbox Dash said to her companion. "I think that is enough for our first report, send the letter Spike"

"Can do!" Spike said as he quickly rolled up the scroll he had been writing on, and with a blast of green fire, the letter was gone and on it's way to Twilight."

Then continued to observe the Crusaders for a while longer, Sweetie Belle had finished with her covering for the wagon, and she had made ponchos for herself and her two friends, which they had loaded on the wagon. They seemed to be talking about something, and kept pointing to the wagon and then in the direction that Rainbow Dash knew Canterlot was. In a short period they seemed to reach an agreement as they high hoofed each other and began to run towards the Apple's house, it w getting near lunchtime, so they were probably going to get something to eat. Rainbow Dash's Stomach growled and she was glad she had remembered to load her saddlebags with plenty of supplies and had gotten Spike to fill his backpack too.

"Looks like we're on the move Spike, hold on." Rainbow Dash grabbed onto the cloud and began to slowly flap her wings, moving the cloud and following the Cutie Mark Crusaders.


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry it's been so long since the last update, school, work, and a working vacation to Walt Disney World joined forces to keep me off the site. So Happy Hearth Warming to all and I shoud be around more often for a while. This chapter also marks the end of my first story, because instead of making the same story longer and longer I am going to do it in the form of a series.

Therefore I offer all of you a challenge, leave a review with a name suggestion for the next story as the CMC begin their journey to Canterlot. Once again happy reading and a Happy Hearth Warming to all the Bronies out there.

Rainbow Dash was held onto the cloud as she slowly propelled herself forward as she followed the Cutie Mark Crusaders as they ran off from the clubhouse.

"They're headed towards the Apple's Farmhouse I think." Spike said as he peered over Rainbow's head with the binoculars Twilight had given him.

"Hmmmmmmmmmm interesting..." Rainbow said softly, "What are these fillies up to?"

Rainbow and Spike continued to follow the crusader's as they ran through the orchard, trailing above and behind the 3 little fillies. Rainbow holding onto the cloud and Spike riding on her back on a saddle that had been set behind her wings. This wasn't just any saddle though, as Spike made sure to remind anypony who saw it, this saddle had been given to him by Rarity and was made of a dark brown leather with silver inlay. Spike's favorite part of the saddle however, was on the pommel She had engraved "To my Spiky-Wikie, Happy Birthday!"

After several minutes of travel The Crusader's reached the Apple's house and quickly ran inside, closing the door behind them.

"Well that's just great!" Spike exclaimed "NOW how are we supposed to know what they're up to?"

"Relax Spike," Rainbow coolly stated " We just have to get a little closer."

With that Rainbow Dash hopped of her cloud and began gliding down towards the farmhouse.

"Woooooaahhhh!" Spike yelled out, "warn me when you're gonna do something like that."

"Quiet Spike, "The pegasus whispered "You wanna be discovered?"

Spike shut his mouth and held tightly onto his saddle as they finished gliding down in silence, landing at the back corner of the house. Spike dismounted off or Rainbow and rainbow looked back at him and waved her hoof forward, and begin to crawl slowly along the side of the house. Spike began to follow, also keeping low to the ground, though he wondered why since he wasn't tall enough to be seen from the windows anyways. They stopped underneath an open window that they heard 3 familiar voices coming through. Rainbow began to hoof signal again, this time first cupping her hoof over her ear, and then making a motion like she was writing on her hoof with an invisible pen. Spike gave her a thumbs up and dug a quill, ink, and paper out of Rainbows saddlebags, placed the paper against the wall, and began to take notes on what he heard.

"I'm glad no one was home right now, I hate having to fib to ponies about what we're planning." Sweetie Belle said to her friends as they entered the Apple Family kitchen.

"Me too!" Scootaloo said, still feeling a little guilty about not being honest with her friends about Shining Start and her Scooter. "I'm starving! You got anything to eat around her?"

"Do you Apple Bloom? Because I am absolutle famished after all that working and running" the white filly added in.

Apple Bloom jumped onto the table in front of her friends, and standing on her back hooves she said, "We'll ya'll are in luck, cuz in th' Apple families kitch'n you're always welcome ta help yerselfs!" She then turned around and bounded towards the icebox and pulled out a jug of milk and placed it on the table, then trotted over to a cabinet and pulled out a bag of oats and a bowl and quickly combining them. "mmmmmmmmmm breakfast o' champions." she said as she began eating her oats and milk.

Meanwhile Sweetie Belle had started over at the breadbox, and after getting two slices of homemade bread out and placing them on a plate moved over to the icebox and levitated out some spinach leaves and assorted flowers, using them to complete her sandwich, which using her unicorn magic, she was able to eat without getting her hooves dirty.

Scootaloo, on the other hoof, saw what her two friends were getting, and thought to herself "Too much work for me." So after her two friends were clear of the icebox, she reached in took out a plate of leftover hayfries and a bowl of vegetable soup, and started to eat them without going through the trouble of heating them up.

Once they had finished eating Apple Bloom was the first to speak "Alright, now down to business, we got our gear fer camping and raincoats if it rains. We got food an' we got money so we can buy things we might need in Canterlot. Are we forgetting anything?"

"OH PONYFEATHERS!" Sweetie Belle shouted out "We never thought of what we are telling the other ponies so they don't worry about us!"

"Oh yeah! Guess we should do that." Scootaloo said, "Anypony got an idea?"

The three fillies began to think about how they could leave Ponyville, because they knew that the other ponies simply wouldn't let them go to Canterlot on their own. "What if we said we were going camping?" The orange pegasus chimed up.

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom added, "we could say we are staying here at Sweet Apple Acres, thar's plenty of land here that nopony is ever really on, so it could buy plently o' time!"

"Works for me." Sweetie Belle said, "I'll write a quick note that AppleJack will find when she comes back inside." With that she levitated a quill and a piece of paper from a notepad that had been sitting next to the icebox. On them she quickly wrote "Going Camping, back soon-Cutie Mark Crusaders"

"Nice! By the time they start wondering were we are, we'll be sure to have our cutie marks!" Scootaloo shouted as she grabbed the note out of the air and placed it on the table. "Come on! Let's get back and get ready, because we leave tonight!"

With that, the three fillies raised their hooves in the air and shouted, "Cutie Mark Crusader Travelers!" and bolted out of the kitchen.

The second that she heard the door close Rainbow turned to spike and said "Looks like we're back on the move Spike, hop on!" With that Spike quickly climbed onto his saddle and They were both up in the air moments before the door opened and the three fillies started galloping back the way they had come.

"You should send that letter to Twilight Spike, maybe she'll have an idea of what we should do."

She felt the heat on her neck as spike sent off the letter in a flash of green fire, and as she began moving with her cloud behind the crusaders, she knew that they had a long day ahead of them.


End file.
